Character Review: CT-1701

Good morning gamers,

We’ve come to it at last – the final playable Rebel Hero for the Imperial Assault campaign. There are tons of heroes in Imperial Assault who like to do the shooting game – some from up close and some from far away (and some who don’t really care), but there are few who can deal quite as much carnage as CT-1701. He’s also incredibly flexible as a shooting character, since he doesn’t have pistol or rifle requirements to use his special abilities (and he can be taken as either a bolt-slinging maniac or as a level-headed squad leader). Let’s see what this guy brings to the table that’s new to Imperial Assault. 

CT-1701: So You Like Shooting, Huh? 

I’m a huge fan of Star Wars: Rebels – it’s a great show. Rebels was very exciting for me because we learn – SPOILER ALERT – that Captain Rex and some of his Clone buddies survived the Clone Wars and didn’t go all Order-66 on the Jedi. This made me SO happy and I love the episodes with Rex. CT-1701 is our “Captain Rex” kind of Clone in Imperial Assault – an ex-Clone Trooper who’s trying to help the Rebellion fight against the Empire. 

He’s also got a really wild shooting profile: while he’s unwounded, his shooting attacks can surge for 1 Damage Power Token (DPT), which is really great, since he can also spend 2 strain (even after he’s been wounded) to perform a second shooting attack at a figure within 3 spaces of the previous target (though that person gets a white die added to their defense pool). If you shoot at one figure, surge for a DPT, and then get to shoot again, you know that you can wipe out the block result that may or may not come from the new white die and still do damage to your target (assuming that he doesn’t get a dodge, of course – more on this later).  

Character Review: Tress Hacnua

We’re back in the character review series for Imperial Assault and we’ve come to the first of two Rebel heroes that were released with the Tyrants of Lothal expansion. Tress Hacnua is the melee-oriented hero in that release and she’s an interesting person to play with (both in the campaign and the skirmish game). She, like Saska, Loku, and Drokkatta, introduced a new type of token into the game – let’s see what she does! 

Tress Hacnua: Dragonsnake Variation and Whatever Else You Want 

Tress’s special thing is the use of “style tokens,” which by default can be used to increase the damage of a melee attack that she makes (either with her Reinforced Cyberarm or a different melee weapon). While there are lots of cool abilities that she can trigger, the pervasive theme throughout her upgrades is how you use your style tokens (be it to get extra block, extra surge, Cleave, or performing free actions). Her Fyrnock Style ability (which she keeps if she’s wounded) allows her to get a style token after performing an attack, so just by attacking, you can start buffing your characters. 

But her Dragonsnake Variation upgrade (3XP) gives her not only +2 Health, but also gives her 1 style token each time a hostile figure is defeated during her activation – which means that if you can both attack an enemy figure and kill at least one enemy figure, you can get 2 style tokens to either power up her next attack OR perform other cool actions. In my mind, this upgrade is a given for her – and probably the first one you go for (and, oh by the way, it gets her some extra health – always a good thing to have on a white die character). 

Character Review: Jarrod Kelvin

In this our last post of our character review series (at least until they decide whether or not to release any more expansion sets), we’re looking at the great droid maker and all-around great tank, Jarrod Kelvin. Released alongside Ko-Tun Feralo (who can play a great tank) and Drokkatta (who can also play a good tank), it’s easy for Jarrod to feel dwarfed by his friends, but let’s make this clear from the get-go: 

Jarrod is THE BEST TANK you can get. 

As tough as Biv and Onar are (read our posts on each of them for more info), no one gets to pile on defensive bonuses like Jarrod (though he’s no slouch on offense, either).

Jarrod Kelvin: Just Give Me Another Melee Weapon (and Where’s My Droid?)

When it comes to Jarrod, all you really want is an additional melee weapon – you can’t get rid of your Vibro-Claws and for both the Parry rule and Leaping Slash (if you choose to purchase it), you want another melee weapon. Here are your options (I’ve omitted both the Ancient Lightsaber and the Ryyk Blades, since the Ryyk Blades become a glorified Vibroblade and the Ancient Lightsaber becomes a glorified Vibrosword in the hands of Jarrod Kelvin – doesn’t make sense to me to spend 3x the cash and wait until Tier 3 when you can just get the alternatives at Tier 1 OR a different weapon altogether):

Weapon Name (Set Required)	Tier - Cost	Attack Pool (Mods)	Avg. Exp. Damage (Cleave)
Armored Gauntlets (Core)	1 – 300	Green-Yellow (0)	2.13 (0.31)
Vibroblade (Core)	1 – 300	Green-Green (1)	1.44 (0.85)
BD-1 Vibro-Ax (Core)	2 – 600	Red-Green (2)	2.11 (0.78)
Vibro Knucklers (Core)	2 – 400	Green-Yellow (0)	2.60 (0.14)
Force Pike (Core)	3 – 1100	Red-Yellow-Yellow (1)	3.53 (0.00)
Gaffi Stick (Twin Shadows)	1 – 200	Red-Yellow (1)	2.18 (0.00)
Vibroknife (Return to Hoth)	1 – 150	Green-Green (0)	2.38 (0.00)
Stun Baton (Return to Hoth)	2 – 500	Red-Blue (1)	2.60 (0.00) *
Vibrosword (Bespin Gambit)	1 – 350	Blue-Green (2)	3.00 (0.00) **
Double Vibrosword (Jabba’s Realm)	2 – 650	Red-Green (1)	2.11 (0.78) *
Polearm (Heart of the Empire)	2 - 600	Red-Red (1)	2.86 (0.50)
Electrostaff (Grand Inquisitor VP)	3 - 1250	Red-Green-Blue (1)	4.61 (1.99) ***

*Does not include weapon special rule                 **1 Strain to apply Pierce 1              ***Apply Cleave 2

Obviously, the average expected damage of these weapons changes if you put different modifications on them, but this baseline gives a rough idea of which weapons are good at doing direct damage or cleave damage (and whether their damage is worth the cost you pay for them). A few weapons play greatly to Jarrod’s strengths (since Jarrod doesn’t need to strain very often to activate his abilities, the Stun Baton and Vibrosword are well worth the purchase), but we’re not going to talk about these weapons today. Instead, we’re going to look at how we can maximize cleave damage, maximize our choice of targets with Reach, and getting the most out of Jarrod’s companion, J4X-7 (“Jax” hereafter).

End-Game Weapon #1 – Maximize Cleave: Vibro-Claws and Electrostaff with Focusing Beam

Jarrod has REALLY GOOD 3XP and 4XP upgrades – in this build, we’re taking two of them. With Leaping Slash, we get a few spaces of movement with two attacks as a single action. The first attack has to be made with the Vibro-Claws and the second attack has to be made with a different weapon (in our case, an Electrostaff). The first attack is intended to do two things: first, gaining a Damage Power token, and second, recovering 1 Strain. The second attack then becomes even stronger with the Damage Power token. With Explosive Reflexes, we not only increase our Endurance (useful for moving a bit further, healing more, triggering Leaping Slash, or removing Dodge results via the Focusing Beam), but we can also change a die we’re using to a better one. Since we’ve chosen to use an Electrostaff, you want to get that Red-Red-Green combo instead of the standard Red-Green-Blue. Thanks to the Focusing Beam, we can be assured in the second attack that our attack won’t be Dodged OR the defense will be -1 Block.

The pairing between Explosive Reflexes and Leaping Slash are not useful for making Jarrod play the tank role (the other 3 XP and 4 XP skills are much better), but it makes him incredibly strong on offense. We’ve paired this with Scout’s Loadout (great for removing Evade results from your targets) as well as Balanced Approach, which is one of the best all-around 1 XP skills you can get (granting healing, movement, or a Damage Power token based on what you didn’t do during your activation).

So . . . how does this maximize Cleave? Between Leaping Slash and strain, you can avoid using your actions to move and instead you can focus on performing attacks. With a free Cleave 2 (or Reach) to your attacks, the Electrostaff is not only a flexible weapon, but all-but-guarantees that you’ll be able to do damage to your foes thanks to the high damage output you’ll be generating. While we’ve chosen the Focusing Beam, you can also get good mileage out of the Balanced Hilt (which will make it more likely that you trigger that Surge for Damage 2 ability on the Electrostaff) or the Energized Hilt (which will get you to that envied Red-Red-Red).

Upgrades to purchase - 10 XP: Balanced Approach (1), Scout’s Loadout (2), Explosive Reflexes (3), Leaping Slash (4)

End-Game Weapon #2 – Maximize Reach: Vibro-Claws and Polearm with Vibrogenerator

Reach is one of the most useful abilities in the game – warriors who don’t want to have to spend an action moving can Strain to push themselves just a wee bit further and stretch out and touch their targets. With Jarrod, the use of a Reach weapon gets even better when paired with Leaping Slash, since you’re not required to attack with the Vibro-Claws (which unfortunately don’t get Reach). Since we’re looking at having a weapon that allows us to get more possible targets for our attacks, we’ve designed this build towards one of Jarrod’s best strengths: mobility.

By taking Leaping Slash and Mutual Progression, Jarrod can spend 1 action moving (5 movement points thanks to Mutual Progression) and move an additional 2 spaces with Leaping Slash (spaces, not movement points). We’re also going to pick up both of Jarrod’s 1 XP skills, Balanced Approach and Forward Momentum. We’re not going to be using the Vibro-Claws in this build for Leaping Slash, saving it instead to Parry (giving us a free movement point whenever we Parry thanks to Forward Momentum). Forward Momentum also gives us free movement points at the start of our turn. Sometimes, you won’t need to perform a move (Mutual Progression is still good for the defensive buff it gives) – when that happens, you can gain a free movement point from Balanced Approach – which allows you to basically perform a free move if you take into account the bonuses from the other skills.

On offense, we’ve chosen the Polearm with the Vibrogenerator – we’ve already talked about this weapon build as one of the best melee weapons you can use. If you’re looking for maximum damage, you’re basically agreeing to spend 2 Surge for 2 Damage, but because you’re rolling a Red-Red, you hardly ever get a single Surge, so most of the time, you’re getting a free Damage 2 bonus (which is like having a Red-Red-Green pool). You’re not going to be able to surge for Cleave 2 or Pierce 1, but worse things have happened. J Prior to getting to Tier 2, I’d recommend picking up the Vibroblade with the Extended Haft (it’s got basically the same surge abilities as the Polearm) and keeping the Extended Haft on the Polearm until you get to Tier 3.

Upgrades to purchase – 9 XP: Balanced Approach (1), Forward Momentum (1), Mutual Progression (3), Leaping Slash (4)

End-Game Weapon #3 – Combat Companions: Vibro-Claws and Gaffi Stick with High Impact Guard

Huh, we also already talked about the Gaffi Stick with High Impact Guard as one of the best melee weapons you can take. J The idea with this build is that you want to acquire a weapon early and stick with it (see what I did there - "stick with the Gaffi Stick?"), focusing your upgrades on things that will help you and Jax – who is really the center of this build. The Gaffi Stick is a great weapon – static Pierce 1 with a Red die is awesome, but all of the surge that’s generated doesn’t translate into Damage until you get the High Impact Guard. If you never see the High Impact Guard (or if one of your buddies wants it), you can take the Energized Hilt instead and once per turn you can attack with a Red-Red and static Pierce 1 (using any Surge you get to recover 1 Strain or apply Weaken).

The goal of this build is to get the most out of Jax: with Scout’s Loadout, you can not only apply Pierce 1 to a friendly attack each activation, but you can also apply -1 Evade (which will KILL a White die). Thanks to Mutual Progression and Mechanical Master, not only are Jarrod and Jax much more resilient and faster, but Jax can activate during Jarrod’s activation AND during another Rebel figure’s activation. When Jax shoots, he’ll roll a Blue-Green with a static Pierce 1 (not bad) and if you want to, Jax can also gain a free movement point at the start of his activation with Forward Momentum. This makes Jax more like an ally – very helpful on offense – but VERY VULNERABLE to attacks. Jarrod for this build is an actual tank – able to gain a free Block with his Black die, 12 Health, and two weapons to use with Parry (since you don’t have Leaping Slash - and benefiting from free movement whenever we Parry).

Now for those keeping tally at home, you'll notice that this build (and all the other ones) have left out one of Jarrod's upgrades: Slicer's Upgrades. I bring it up here because you could add it to your build (or even remove Forward Momentum if you only have 11 XP). In my mind, the benefits of this upgrade are too niche to plan on purchasing as part of a build - the other skills are far more helpful in the long-run and help both Jax AND Jarrod. 

Upgrades to purchase - 10 XP: Forward Momentum (1), Scout’s Loadout (2), Mutual Progression (3), Mechanical Master (4)

Jarrod in the Skirmish Game

Jarrod Kelvin in the skirmish game retains a few benefits from the campaign game: first, he gets a basic version of Leaping Slash, getting a few more spaces of movement. With an automatic Damage 1 on offense (to be supplemented by Jax’s static Pierce 1 if he’s adjacent to the target), the Yellow-Yellow attack pool with the ability to surge for Damage 2, Pierce 2, and a Damage Power token is made all the stronger. Finally, Jarrod has a free Evade (which is different from his Mutual Progression bonus of a static Block) to supplement his Black die. For only 5 points, Jarrod has a decent amount of health and is hard to crack through by basic troops. Able to synergize with Leaders, Brawlers, and Spies, Jarrod can be included in any Rebel list (even Smuggler and Trooper lists will benefit from Jax’s static Pierce 1 benefit, as well as the support cards provided by Spies/Leaders). We’ve used Jarrod in one of our previous posts – you can see how to integrate him there.

This concludes our series on Rebel heroes for now – I may do a series of posts on different team builds you can do, but that’s probably a long way off. We still have an active series on Imperial Class decks, but other content will probably be put up ad-hoc for the various series we’ve already done on the blog. Until next time, happy hobbying!

Character Review: Onar Koma

As we look at the tank characters in Imperial Assault, we turn our attention today to the mercenary bodyguard Onar Koma – the character with the most health in the game and NO starting defense die. Even when he’s fully upgraded defensively, Onar gets very little defense results and must rely on having more health (and getting more out of rest actions) than other characters. This can make Onar tricky to use, but he’s a valuable Tank character none the less. Unlike Biv Bodhrick who we viewed last week, Onar is in many ways the best at playing the tank role, as Imperial figures are rewarded the most by shooting at him (since he will stop almost nothing of what they throw at him). While Onar isn’t as survivable as Biv, he draws agro far faster than Biv does. In this realm, Onar is king.

Onar Koma: The Rule of Three Red Dice

Onar has an amazing upgrade with Don’t Make Me Hurt You – exhaust the upgrade to add a Red die to one of your attacks (with the option to damage yourself if you killed your target in order to ready it again). While there are many ways to make this powerful (we’ll highlight a few in this post), in general I recommend that your goal with Onar is to find ways to roll at least three Red dice when attacking. The reason? 

Red dice can be unreliable. 

We’ve all had times when we really needed a good roll and our Red die (our one power die!) got a measly Damage 1. Even with two Red dice, you will occasionally get a single Damage out of each of them. With three Red dice, however, your reliably is kept high – AND if all three do get a single Damage result, you’ll still break through the vast majority of defense rolls.

Getting the required three Red dice can be achieved most easily by purchasing a weapon with two Red die in its attack pool. Because we’ve talked about weapon builds for the Polearm and the DXR-6 in one of our previous posts, you won’t see either of those weapons featured in this post (though I will admit they work really well with Onar). Thanks to certain weapon mods you can take, you can change an attack dice (or two, if you have the right weapon/mods) into a Red die if you want – which might cost more money in the long-run than buying a weapon that has the double-Red dice attack pool normally OR might limit you to one attack with a double-Red attack pool. Either way, once you have two Red dice in your attack pool the third is easy in coming with Don’t Make Me Hurt You.

Besides this upgrade, the only other upgrade Onar has that works offensively is Mutual Destruction – while this has distinct benefits when using Rush, the greater benefit is that in any attack you perform, you can suffer 1 Damage in order to add 1 Damage to the attack results. Taken with Don’t Make Me Hurt You, you can do even more damage than you otherwise would. For 6 XP together, you’re not spending that much to make your offensive game stronger. With that, let’s look at what we can do with Onar.

End-Game Weapon #1 – Point Blank Cannon Blast: Hand Cannon with Plasma Cell OR Under-Barrel HH-4

The Hand Cannon not only comes in the Jabba’s Realm expansion (along with Onar), but it’s the upgraded version of Onar’s starter weapon, the Bodyguard Rifle. Key differences between these two weapons include a Red-Red attack pool with a static +1 Accuracy (instead of a Red-Green attack pool) and the presence of a Mod slot. Since neither weapon begins with any innate benefit to rolling Surge results (besides recovering Strain), the presence of the Mod slot makes the Hand Cannon far better as a weapon, since you can turn your Surge results into something useful (at least, from a damage output perspective). With either the Plasma Cell (which gives a static Pierce 1 + surge-for-Damage) or the Under-Barrel HH-4 (which gives a static Accuracy 1 + surge-for-Blast), you can increase the damage you do AND give some kind of static bonus (either taking away enemy Block or hitting targets that are slightly farther away).

To supplement this weapon (which you can have kitted out at Tier 1 if you go with the Under-Barrel, and Tier 2 if you go with the Plasma Cell), we’re adding both Mutual Destruction and Don’t Make Me Hurt You. Regardless of whether you intend to do precise damage to your target with the Plasma Cell or spray damage with the Under-Barrel, the extra Red die and the additional Damage 1 is quite helpful (though the Under-Barrel certainly benefits more from the investment as it more reliably guarantees that you can Blast provided you get a Surge result on at least one of those Red dice). To balance out Onar, we’re taking the Black Sun Armor (to give some kind of defense, not to mention increase the health of our hero as we’re going to be damaging ourselves quite a bit) and Keep Up, as getting a free point of movement is quite valuable when your range is going to be low (1 Accuracy with the Plasma Cell, 2 Accuracy with the Under-Barrel).

Perhaps the best thing about this build, is that your weapons will cost you 850-900 credits, which saves you a little room to buy additional gear (I like the Portable Medkit the best, though the Personal Shields is good to supplement your defense and Extra Ammunition is great for offense). Your choice as to what you want to do.

Upgrades to purchase - 11 XP: Keep Up (1), Mutual Destruction (2), Don’t Make Me Hurt You (4), Black Sun Armor (4)

End-Game Weapon #2 – Defensive Powerhouse: Gaffi Stick with Energized Hilt

Let’s face it, Onar is a tank – if we’re going to take damage, let’s mitigate it as best we can. One of the ways we can do that is by spending less for our weapon, plan on only attacking with one of our actions each turn, and then RESTING. Since Onar heals an additional 2 Damage after each rest, any amount of resting is valuable. To that end, our cheap weapon today is the Gaffi Stick. I’ll just say that I played a short campaign with Onar and all I had was the Gaffi Stick until . . . basically the end of the campaign (when I finally swiped the 434 Deathhammer from another hero – a weapon which we won’t be covering in this post, much to pity). With a static Pierce 1 and a wasted Yellow die, the Gaffi Stick is one of the cheapest weapons in the game and one of the most deadly when you get to the end-game. Onar can make this a Red-Red-Yellow weapon with Don’t Make Me Hurt You, but if you’re only planning on attacking once, you can spend 250 credits on the Energized Hilt to roll a Red-Red-Red – fabulous! For 450 credits, this is a one-action-per-turn-mega-bashing-stick with an automatic Pierce 1 (and the ability to turn your surge results into Weaken, recovering Strain, and . . . well, regret).

If you’re worried about the incredibly unlikely event where you get surge results you don’t like, you can bail yourself out by purchasing the Power Charger. This not only gives Onar access to Damage Power Tokens, but also makes him essentially surge for 2 Damage (just that you get the Damage on the NEXT attack, not this attack). Pretty cool, no? Since you’re not spending anywhere near the amount of money a regular person is, you can also pick up all of the gadgets we mentioned in the previous build (though I would skip the Extra Ammunition as you’re not running a blaster and instead take the Bacta Pump – this enables you to strain during the end of your activation for movement and not have to recover that when you rest).

As I mentioned at the start, we’re choosing to favor a cheaper weapon so we can focus on defense. Apart from the equipment you choose to take, we’re purchasing both the Black Sun Armor (something is better than nothing) and Stay Behind Me – a great little pip to your health and the ability to add a Block to an adjacent friendly figure who is defending at the cost of 1 Damage to yourself. The free health allows you to do this twice without any real penalty and if you’re not near any of your friends (or just don’t feel like saving them), you have a nice little health pip all to yourself. J

As a flexible option to either protect other people or yourself, we’re also taking Get Down – gonna admit the biggest pull for this upgrade is that you can give yourself more than one defense result – you want that Block, man. While this can be used to protect other people, you’re going to be a big fat target with that beat stick you’re carrying and very little defense to reduce the damage you’re taking. Use it for yourself (like any good tank).

Upgrades to purchase – 11 XP: Get Down (1), Stay Behind Me (2), Don’t Make Me Hurt You (4), Black Sun Armor (4)

End-Game Weapon #3 – Rapid Fire: DDC Defender with Disruption Cell

Alas, we’re going to break our “Rule of Three Red Dice” with this build – we’ll only be using two dice. When I looked at Onar, I had a semi-conversation with myself that went something like this:

Initial thought: “Self, do we really need to rest?” Answer: Yes.

Next thought: “Self, if everyone around me is dead, do I really need to rest?” Answer: No.

Follow-on thought: “So self, if I don’t need to rest if there’s no one around me, then getting multiple attacks into my activation removes my need to rest, right?” Answer: Correct.

Conclusion: “Glad we agree – what did we do with that DDC Defender?”

Alright, so my conversations don’t usually happen like this (and NEVER happen out loud . . . obviously . . . why are you looking at me like that?), but the fact remains: because Onar has the ability to ready Don’t Make Me Hurt You, it makes sense that you’d want to be able to use your weapon as much as you can to do as much damage as you can. We’ve talked about this weapon three times already: first with Vinto Hreeda (as a means of maximizing his special splash damage rules), again with Loku Kanoloa (as a means of getting the greatest opportunity to recover strain), and most recently with Jyn Odan (as a means of getting the most attacks and movement out of your character). For those keeping score at home, each time we’ve reviewed this weapon, we’ve chosen a different modification to go with it:

·         For Vinto, we chose the Under-Barrel HH-4, since our objective was to do as much splash damage as we could;

·         For Loku, we chose the Plasma Cell, since we knew we wanted precise damage against our targets with the end-goal being recovering strain;

·         For Jyn, we took the Charged Ammo Pack, looking for cheap damage options instead of expensive direct damage options

Today, we introduce a fourth upgrade: the Disruption Cell. In the interest of getting close to three Reds, we’re instead going with a Red-Red-Green combo. Thanks to the Disruption Cell and the Green die, we’re guaranteed at least 3 Accuracy, which makes this a more reliable range weapon than the Hand Cannon we viewed earlier (and only marginally more expensive). Until you get to Tier 3, you can go with any of the mods listed in the bullets above (the Plasma Cell will be the most like the Disruption Cell), but once you hit Tier 3, you’re in business with LOTS of damage.

For upgrades, we’re purchasing two offensive and two defensive upgrades: for offense, we’re using Don’t Make Me Hurt You and Mutual Destruction, and for defense we’re using the Black Sun Armor and Get Down. You’ll want to rest every other turn in order to keep your damage intake down (or you can just blaze forward towards getting wounded and have a good time), but every time you attack you’ll be able to damage yourself to add +1 Damage and damage yourself again to reset your Red die. Against most figures, you’ll blow three of them to pieces with this. Assuming there aren’t too many more than three hostile figures nearby, you should be fine.

Upgrades to purchase - 11 XP: Get Down (1), Mutual Destruction (2), Don’t Make Me Hurt You (4), Black Sun Armor (4)

Onar in the Skirmish Game

In the skirmish game, the biggest draw for Onar Koma is that he’s got a massive amount of health for only 6 points – that’s the same cost as basic units. As a Hunter, Onar can get huge benefits to his offense with the usual cards (Tools for the Job, Assassinate, Primary Target) and he gets HUGE benefits from Glory of the Kill. In many ways, his Guardian attribute works against him – since he doesn’t have a defense die, he can’t benefit as well from some Guardian cards (Defensive Stance) though he does benefit a lot from Parry. Additionally, if you ally him into an Imperial force, he can’t benefit from the static Block from Royal Guards because of his Guardian status and he can’t be shielded by Wing Guard either.

Besides these unfortunate circumstances, Onar is one of the finest bounty hunter characters they’ve released to date – with plenty of health and the ability to get a free attack via his Extra Protection Command card, Onar is a power-house. Use him with any bounty hunters (Jabba is great, so is Bossk) and other Guardians (Elite Gamorrean Guards for example) OR ally him into a Rebel (with Saska Teft) or Imperial list (with Temporary Alliance) if you want a little extra power for not a lot of cost.

In our last post on Rebel heroes, we’ll be covering Jarrod Kelvin. Jarrod is the only hero who always comes with a Companion to aid him and is not only (in my view) the best tank available in the game, but also has incredible offensive potential. Until next time, happy hobbying!

Character Review: Biv Bodhrick

In this our last series on heroes, we look at the unappreciated but incredibly fun group of characters who form the tank class of Imperial Assault. While tanks are often critiqued for being limited in their damage output, you won't find that to be the case for these gentlemen, and this is particularly true of today's hero, the mighty Biv Bodhrick.

Biv Bodhrick: It's Not Personal, It's Business

Let's sort out two things before we begin: first, on some level and at some point, you will need to spend XP to buy an upgrade that relies on Close and Personal. At the cost of 2 Strain, getting a free melee attack with a Red-Yellow combo and NO surge abilities has debatable utility. While you can spend up to 9 XP on upgrades that don't rely on Close and Personal, you'll eventually need it. So, the big question is: how much do you emphasize Biv's signature skill?
The second thing you'll need to know about Biv is that no matter what weapon you use, Biv SHOULD (dare I say MUST) use his first Surge result to recover Strain. As great as Close and Personal is, Biv gets far more utility out of being able to Strain to reroll an attack die with Deadly Precision. With one of the best starter weapons available to any hero, getting to reroll the Red when it gives you Damage 1 or reroll the Blue when it doesn't give you enough Accuracy (or when it only does Damage 1) is critical to getting the most out of your actions.
With the need to recover Strain for rerolls AND the need to spend 2 Strain to perform Close and Personal, recovering Strain is key to using Biv effectively. Our builds today will keep this in mind and we'll be looking for ways to recover Strain in each of them (though recall we talked about equipment you can buy to manage strain in our post on Verena Talos).

End-Game Weapon #1 – The Melee Approach: Vibro-Knucklers and Repeating Blaster with Vibrobayonet

We've talked about this weapon in many of our posts for good reason: you reliably get Surge results (and you can turn them into good offensive bonuses). For Biv, generating Surge is a must and could be the difference between being able to perform Close and Personal in a given round.
With the Vibrobayonet, you aren't tempted to use your Surge to do Damage during the melee part of Close and Personal, and you're all but guaranteed to do Damage to the target AND apply a Bleed condition. In your follow up attack, you're rolling a Red-Blue and are again not tempted to surge for anything other than recovering Strain.
If you kill the target, not only do you have a good chance of recovering the Strain you used, but you also get to move a bit with Advance. The benefit of the Vibro-Knucklers is that until you get the Vibrobayonet, you don't need to use Close and Personal and you'll still be able to cut through nearby figures. While Close and Personal is good against high-health figures, it's not good against low-health figures. This is where the Vibro-Knucklers shine.
Most of our XP will be dedicated to defense boosts - we are a tank after all. Biv's Trophy Armor is one of the best upgrades in the game, granting +4 Health and a reroll of your defense die. Add in a static Block from Into The Fray and you're one tough nut to crack. But just when you think there's no way you could get stronger, you add in Shake It Off to give you a shot at recovering Strain or removing a harmful condition at the start of your turn.
Perhaps the best thing about this build is that besides the Vibro-Knucklers (though you can use the Armored Gauntlets at Tier 1), you haven't spent any cash. Since you won't be buying armor with your credits, consider picking up the Cybernetic Arm, the Survival Gear, and the Emergency Injector. 

Upgrades to purchase – 10 XP: Advance (1), Shake It Off (1), Into The Fray (2), Vibrobayonet (3), Trophy Armor (3)

End-Game Weapon #2 – Rifle Approach: A280 with Vibrobayonet and Plasma Cell

Alright, let's be honest: Biv should be running around with the world's biggest gun making everything blow up. If we're going to do that, let's find a gun that allows us to take 2 upgrade slots so we can have the Vibrobayonet and something else. Enter the A280.
This list uses Close and Personal to the limit, so Surge is everything. Prior to hitting Tier 2, you can keep your Repeating Blaster (it's good). Thanks to your Vibrobayonet and Plasma Cell, you'll always get a static Pierce 1, no matter which part of Close and Personal you're doing. We've chosen Crushing Blow to supplement the Vibrobayonet, but realize that by giving ourselves something to Surge for in the melee part of Close and Personal, we're not going to be recovering Strain as often. Therefore, this strategy doesn't even try. We've decided with this build that we're going to rest once per turn instead of attacking with our second action.
In this build, we wrap up with one of Biv's 4 XP upgrades (Stay Down) which allows him to perform part of Close and Personal again at the cost of 2 more Strain. Since this doesn't take an action, you can still do 3 attacks in an activation AND REST. With only 9 XP spent, you should have some extra XP to buy odds and ends to flesh out your character (Advance is good, as is the Trophy Armor if you have 12 XP total). In general I don't think Biv's 4 XP upgrades are all that great, but this Stay Down works alright with Crushing Blow (exhaust it during any one of the melee attacks) and the Vibrobayonet (applies to both melee attacks).

Upgrades to purchase – 9 XP: Crushing Blow (2), Vibrobayonet (3), Stay Down (4)

End-Game Weapon #3 – The Pistol Approach: 434 Deathhammer with Vibrobayonet

While having a bayonet on the end of a pistol is unconventional to say the least, you can't argue with this one: a static Damage 1 in both parts of Close and Personal, guaranteed 2 Accuracy, and a solid Red-Blue is great. With Crushing Blow, we're relying on doing lots of Damage to the target, while Advance gives us some movement for free. We'll need to rest from time to time, but since you are spending so little on your weapon, pick up some of the equipment we mentioned previously (I'll add the Bacta Pump for this build, maybe even the Reinforced Helmet or Personal Shields for defense pips).
Speaking of defense, we've chosen again the dual pairing of Into The Fray with the Trophy Armor - there's no reason not to take both. Biv Bodhrick should be able to endure the worst punishment with this build and if you're facing low-health figures, you'll be able to chomp right through them with the 434 Deathhammer. Very straight forward and not much else to say.

Upgrades to purchase – 11 XP: Advance (1), Into The Fray (2), Crushing Blow (2), Vibrobayonet (3), Trophy Armor (3)

Biv in the Skirmish Game

If you're looking for a power character, Biv Bodhrick is your man: as one of the most expensive Rebel Heroes you can bring to a skirmish match, his health and defense are fine but not stellar. Where Biv comes into a realm all his own is on offense: with a Red-Yellow-Blue attack pool and the Close and Personal ability, he can perform multiple attacks in a single action (turning up to 2 Surge into Damage) AND he can still move or trigger a Command card special ability (I like Merciless).

One of the best things about Biv is that he's a Hunter-Brawler, which makes him an excellent ally to a Mercenary list with Temporary Alliance OR he can synergize with most Jedi or Wookiees. If you use Saska Teft, you can pick a good Mercenary figure to join you - Shyla Varad is a good choice, though Bossk, Vinto Hreeda, and Jabba the Hutt are excellent alternates.

In our next post, we’ll be delving into the hero with the highest possible health: Onar Koma. What Onar gains in ridiculous health, he pays for with absolutely no defense die. Is he worth it? Find out next time!

Character Review: Shyla Varad

In our previous posts in the “Slasher” series, we’ve looked at Verena Talos and the ability to shoot people at point-blank range and Davith Elso who carves through enemy figures with his Lightsaber. In today’s post, we’ll be looking at the Mandalorian bounty hunter Shyla Varad, who has the ability to use a melee weapon with the grace and elegance that few (if any) can match.

Shyla Varad: Melee vs. Tactical

Shyla has four upgrades available to her that benefit melee weapons: she can do more damage (at the cost of surge) with All-Out Attack, she can reroll an opposing and a friendly die with Proximity Strike, she can gain a free attack (at slightly weaker strength) with Swords Dance, and she can add Cleave 3 to the attack results with Full Sweep. These skills are incredibly powerful and can turn any attack into a powerful move (though all four of these are exhaust skills, so they can only be used once per round). While a straight-forward approach might make these four look more tempting than her other options, Shyla has tactical options too.

Shyla has two equipment pieces that can be used to either do damage to enemies (Remote Detonator) or cause a hostile figure to become Weakened OR a friendly figure to become Hidden (Smoke Bombs), she can gain a free movement point OR recover 1 Strain at the start of her turn (Responsiveness), and she can gain a static Evade – good complement to her Black die – in addition to free movement and extra Endurance (Deadly Grace). These four skills are in no way weaker to their counterparts listed previously and the decision for running Shyla is simply this: when you have eight good choices, which do you choose? To answer this question, we’ll be looking at three exemplar builds: one that focuses on melee, one that focuses on tactical, and one that mixes the two. With no further ado, let’s dig into it.

End-Game Weapon #1 – Cleave Left And Right: Electrostaff with Extended Haft

When you look at Shyla’s upgrades, there is a definite appeal to Full Sweep: adding an automatic Cleave 3 is fantastic – able to clear out a basic unit with ease OR deal good damage to a figure with more than one defense die. While we’ve talked about several different Cleave-oriented weapons in our post on Gaarkhan, there’s one weapon that outshines all of the rest: the Electrostaff.

Made available in the Grand Inquisitor Villain Pack, this weapon is one of the most expensive Tier 3 weapons you can purchase. With an impressive Red-Green-Blue attack pool and the ability to surge for 2 Damage, your direct damage is incredible. However, when you declare an attack with the Electrostaff, you get to either add Reach OR Cleave 2 to the attack results – this gives you an automatic Cleave 5! We’ve chosen to add the Extended Haft (which you can put on your Duelist’s Blade until you get to Tier 3), which will add an automatic Pierce 1 if you don’t have any targets to Cleave, but otherwise gives you Reach AND Cleave 2 from your attacks.

Another great thing about the Electrostaff is that it has three attack dice, which means you can get better use out of the Swords Dance upgrade. This upgrade gives you the ability to perform a free attack, but comes at the cost of one die from your attack pool. While Shyla can get three attack dice from the Ryyk Blades as well (which allows you to surge for Cleave 2), the die pool from that weapon would only be a Green-Blue (vs. a Red-Green from the Electrostaff). Shyla could also get three attack dice from the Force Pike (which would give you Reach), and the attack would get a decent (though unreliable) attack pool (Red-Yellow). While the Force Pike isn’t a bad weapon, it doesn’t have the options of the Electrostaff and it’s nearly the same price. Ergo, we choose the Electrostaff.

Besides Swords Dance and Full Sweep, we’ve chosen to focus entirely on offense and purchased All-Out Attack and Proximity Strike. Since the Electrostaff has both a Red die AND a Blue die, it’s good to be able to reroll one of your die (makes it hard for you to get Damage 1 on either of those dice) – Proximity Strike gives not only this reroll, but also grants a reroll of a defense die – perfect for ignoring a Block 3 result OR a Dodge result. All-Out Attack allows you to get a free Damage 1 to your attack (at the cost of -1 Surge). This upgrade is much better when you have very little Surge being generated (which this attack pool generally lacks). Even if you do generate 2 Surge, it basically becomes a free “surge for Damage 1,” which isn’t bad (especially for a 1XP upgrade).

Upgrades to purchase – 10 XP: All-Out Attack (1), Proximity Strike (2), Swords Dance (3), Full Sweep (4)

End-Game Weapon #2 – Tactical Build: Duelist’s Blade with Focusing Beam and DH-17 with Charged Ammo Pack and Plasma Cell

Like we talked about in our post on Verena Talos, most characters are not rewarded for having weapons of different weapon types. Some other characters (such as Fenn and Drokkatta) have upgrades that give them static attack results that ignore the weapon type (e.g. can be used with a blaster or a melee weapon). Shyla doesn’t have any of those upgrades. So this begs the question:

Why split your focus between two different kinds of weapons?

The answer is pretty simple: because having a gun makes you more flexible. While Shyla’s Mandolorian Whip upgrade can force non-adjacent hostile figures to get close to her, Shyla needs to move towards figures in order to carve them up. While this isn’t a bad thing, it often means that she needs to spend time moving instead of attacking. This need not be the case. With a gun in hand, Shyla can rely on some of her more tactical upgrades to gain movement and still attack twice (perhaps with a melee weapon, perhaps not).

I debated for a long time about what ranged weapon to give her, but the melee weapon was obvious: Shyla has a great starter weapon – keep it. While a Yellow-Green attack pool isn’t the best attack type, her weapon CAN be a Red-Green (which is a very good attack type) and it can turn almost all surge that it generates into Damage or Pierce. With a reliable output of Damage 3-4, you’re looking at being able to do damage with your attack against anyone that comes your way. If the target has been properly softened, you don’t need to do a lot of damage in order to kill them. So how can we do that…

We begin by looking at two very excellent (though incredibly tactical) upgrades: Smoke Bombs and the Remote Detonator. If Shyla is attacking a White die figure, I recommend she uses the Smoke Bombs on the target to apply Weaken – this is particularly good against enemies with Cunning, as it removes the Evade before it can trigger an additional Block. Against a Black die, you’ll probably want to become Hidden instead, since the Black die doesn’t Evade very often. With the Remote Detonator, you can do a Green die worth of damage (1-2 expected) to a target BEFORE you attack them, which makes it more likely that you’ll be able to carve them up with your starter weapon.

Finally, if you really want to soften someone up, you might want to consider shooting them. J As I said before, it took me a long time to decide which blaster to pick up and while the EE-3 is a fantastically reliable weapon, I figured you would benefit from something with a higher potential damage output and a shorter range (to coincide with the Remote Detonator and the Mandolorian Whip). We’ve talked about the DH-17 twice in our post on Jyn, but the short version is this: the DH-17 is guaranteed to hit at least 3 Accuracy so long as it gets 1 Surge past your opponent’s defense: if you lead off with the Smoke Bombs, that’s easy. When you shoot, you’ll not only get a static Pierce 1 from the Plasma Cell, but you can turn any surge you get into Damage 1 + Pierce 1 or just Damage 1. The maximum result you’ll get is Damage 5 + Pierce 2 with Accuracy 3-5.

To polish off this build, we take both Responsiveness and Deadly Grace. Not only can this give us 3 free movement points at the beginning of our turn, but we also increase our Endurance (which allows us to move even further without spending actions. If we don’t need as much movement, we can always use Responsiveness to recover Strain – perfect for triggering the Mandolorian Whip if we need it and are strained out.

Upgrades to purchase – 10 XP: Responsiveness (1), Smoke Bombs (2), Remote Detonator (3), Deadly Grace (4)

End-Game Weapon #3 – Strain And Recover: Vibrosword with Focusing Beam and Balanced Hilt

While playing with a gun is fun and while cleaving into people is really fun, Shyla is a “slasher” – she’s really good at carving people up. So, what kind of build to you make for someone that you want to deal TONS of damage? We recently talked about the Polearm with Vibrogenerator and cited it as one of the best overall melee weapons you can use. I know what you’re wondering:

Why not talk about the Polearm with Vibrogenerator again?

The answer is simple:

Because that would be boring.

To be clear, you can do a lot of damage with the Polearm with Vibrogenerator – just read our previous post for why that is. Instead, we’re going to talk about a different weapon: the Vibrosword. We’ve talked about this weapon in two other posts, both of which passed on the Balanced Hilt (for Diala we took the Energized Hilt and for Gaarkhan we took the Extended Haft). So what is it about this weapon that we seem to like so much?

The Vibrosword has a few benefits over other weapons (like the Polearm or even the Electrostaff we viewed previously):

·         The Vibrosword is available at Tier 1, allowing you to get it early (as opposed to waiting). This is a minor benefit, as your Duelist’s Blade is a perfectly good weapon (as we saw in the previous build).

·         The Vibrosword gives you two mod slots, giving you greater flexibility in how you want to build your weapon (like being able to get Reach from the Extended Haft AND something else).

·         The Green-Blue provides decent damage and surge potential (which is good for a weapon that can surge for Damage 2).

While there are also disadvantages (like the fact that it only has two dice in its attack pool), the biggest advantage (and what sets it apart from other weapons) is the fact that you can STRAIN to increase the Pierce of your attack. We talked in our post on Gaarkhan that this unique ability for the Vibrosword enabled him to not need to purchase his Vicious Strike ability since they effectively do the same thing.

For Shyla, straining for additional Pierce is compensated for nicely by both her Responsiveness upgrade and by her Respite ability – giving you two free Strain recoveries every activation. Even if you don’t rest, you can add Pierce 1-2 (depending on whether you use the Mandolorian Whip ability), which is as good as having a free Pierce 1 from a weapon. With 1-2 Pierce in the bag, you’re guaranteed to break through the worst Black die and can trigger Full Sweep. If you’re fighting a White die, you can tap your Focusing Beam and use one of your Strain to remove a Dodge result OR take away whatever Block result came on the die (or from an Evade if your target has Cunning).

While this is all fantastic, the one thing that the Vibrosword doesn’t do is reliably generate surge. To compensate for this, we’ve chosen the Balanced Hilt. While it only benefits you once per turn, you’ll be happy you have it if you manage to not get a single surge in your attack pool. We have taken Proximity Strike to round out the upgrades, which will give you a reroll if you want it, but even then, you’re not guaranteed to get good results out of the Blue or Green as far as surge is concerned. While you may not need the Balanced Hilt to trigger damage, you can always use it to recover 1 Strain, queueing up a more powerful turn next round.

Upgrades to purchase – 11 XP: Responsiveness (1), Proximity Strike (2), Full Sweep (4), Deadly Grace (4)

Shyla in the Skirmish Game

Shyla Varad is a powerhouse – for only 8 points, she has a Green-Green-Yellow attack pool and the ability to turn most of her Surge into Damage/Pierce/Cleave 2, which is BONKERS! On defense, she’s got a Black die with a free Evade (similar to Verena, who we talked about a few weeks ago) and a whopping 12 health (with a free Recover 1 at the start of each turn if she of her activations), which means your opponents will need to press their attack very quickly and very hard to defeat her. Shyla is straight-forward to use and with both Hunter and Brawler synergies, you can run her with bounty hunters (Trandoshans, Onar, Vinto, Bossk, and Clawdite Shapeshifters are good choices) or with brawlers (Bossk/Trandoshans from the previous list, but also Tuskens, Gamorreans, and Wampas). Whatever army you want to run, Shyla will take up 20% of your cash and provide a huge boon to your list.

In our next post, we’ll be starting the final group in our series of character reviews with the “tank” class. Our first character is Biv Bodhrick, one of my favorite characters and one of the hardest characters to kill. Until next time, happy gaming!